The Missing Piece

Posted on 18 Aug 2026 @ 6:02pm by Lieutenant Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant Commander Sandra Boren
Edited on on 19 Aug 2026 @ 1:31am

1,101 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Doldrums
Location: USS Arawyn Holodeck

///Main Engineering////

The next morning, Ryan entered engineering, drinking from a cup of coffee. He nodded his greetings at Ensign Yates. "Ensign. How's the morning going?"

"So far, so good. Green across the board." Ensign Yates was on the smallish side, with short black hair and of Japanese descent. "We've clocked an unidentified ship headed our way. The Captain hasn't engaged yellow alert as of yet. It doesn't seem to be aggressive. Approaching at Warp Two."

Ryan tied into the same readings on the bridge. The Arawyn slowed, permitting the small ship to catch up to them. It didn't seem to match anything in their database. The ship sent a transmission, which communications couldn't quite identify. It would probably need some time for the universal translator to identify. The ship sent a standard hail, without any response. Abruptly, the ship suddenly flew away, this time at warp five.

Suddenly, a warning alert sounded. "What's happening?" Ryan asked.

"We've lost external sensors," Yates said. "We didn't clock any anomalies. Hull array seems stable."

"'Seems' being the key word. Let's get a team out there to double-check," Ryan said.

Suddenly, another warning sounded. This time it was blaring. "EPS conduit one has shut down!" Yates said.

"What?" Ryan echoed. Thankfully, the shields were still powered by the battery, but that only lasted for so long. "Attempt a manual restart."

"That will take twenty minutes," Yates said.

Ryan knew that all too well. "Then the sooner we get it done, the better."

"Communications are down," another engineer replied. "Hard lines established with the bridge."

"Lieutenant Collingway, what is happening to my ship?" the Captain demanded.

Ryan didn't have any answers for her. "Still assessing. Stand by." This made no sense. "Yates, what if that signal wasn't coms? What if it was meant for us? What if it is a virus?"

Yates' eyes widened. "In which case, any system can fail!"

"Do we have communication lines working with science?"

"No. We-"

"Lieutenant Collingway!" the Captain snapped.

"We think we might be dealing with a cyberattack!" Ryan said. "Recommend a complete computer purge and reinstall with verified backups."

"How long would that take?"

"Three weeks," Ryan said reluctantly.

"I need a better solution, Lieutenant," the Captain said.

Suddenly, engineering began to shake. "Enemy fire detected! Shields are down to twenty percent!" another engineer reported as smoke began to enter. "Looks like that ship has returned!"

"We need to switch every available system back to manual control!" Ryan said.

"How?" Yates asked. "Coms are down!"

Ryan tried to think of a solution, but couldn't. Everything was happening all at once.

Then the program froze.

///// Boren Quarters SB 369 ////
Sandra had linked into the Arawyn's holodeck from Starbase 369 and watched as the simulation unfolded around Collingway. He had started well. His initial assessment had been sound, his priorities made sense, and he had responded quickly as new failures appeared.

But he was missing something. "Computer, pause simulation." Everything around Collingway froze.

"Not bad, Ryan," Sandra said as her image appeared on the viewscreen above the holodeck control arch. "You're heading in the right direction. I've paused it for a moment because there's something I want you to consider before you continue."

She gave him a few seconds to look around the frozen Engineering deck. "What's the bigger picture?" Sandra raised a hand before he could immediately answer. "Don't think about what's happening outside the ship. You already have Tactical and the bridge worrying about that. Think about Engineering."

She leaned slightly closer to the screen. "How many people do you have under your command?" She let the question hang for a moment.

"And we're at red alert. So for practical purposes, almost your entire department is available." Sandra glanced towards one of the frozen engineers standing at a console behind him. "You've been handling this as though you're the senior engineer on duty and need to solve each problem as it reaches you. You're not. You're the Chief Engineer."

A faint smile crossed her features. "Your greatest resource isn't the warp core, Ryan. It's the people standing around it." She settled back. "You don't need to solve every problem yourself. You need to decide which problems matter most, assign the right people to them, make sure they have what they need, and keep enough of your attention free to see what happens next."

Sandra gestured towards the frozen Engineering deck. "So, before I restart the simulation, take another look around. You have an entire department available to you. How are you going to use it?"

Ryan thought about it. Then he nodded. "Got it, Commander."

The simulation resumed. "Send a hardwired message through the data network. I want every available screen and PADD to broadcast. Tell every available engineer to work on switching every available system to manual control."

"You've got it," Yates said.

For a few minutes, Ryan worked in engineering, switching over what he could. They said waiting was the hardest part. Fortunately, they did not have to wait long.

"Deck 2 reports Impulse control is on bypass," Yates reported. "The virus was not able to affect it. Ship is manuvering."

They watched as the ship manuvered around the alien ship and fired with the remaining power from the battery. That couldn't have been an easy shot, relying on line-of-sight more than anything else.

But it worked.

"Enemy ship disabled," Yates said. "We did it."

Ryan breathed a little as the simulation came to an end with a successful pass. He smiled. "Thank you, Commander. That advice really helped."

"The hardest transition when you become Chief Engineer is exactly this," Sandra explained. "You're no longer responsible only for the engineering problem in front of you. You're responsible for all of Engineering, and for every member of the engineering crew."

She paused, giving Ryan a moment to consider the distinction. "Let them help you. More importantly, trust them to do their jobs. They want to help, and each of them has their own expertise."

Sandra looked at Collingway "Think of yourself as the conductor and your engineering crew as the orchestra. You don't play every instrument. Your job is to make sure everyone knows what needs to be done, that they're working towards the same objective, and that you recognise when something needs your attention."

A faint smile crossed her face. "Give them the problem, give them the authority to solve it, and let them run with it. You don't need to have your hands on every console to be in command of Engineering."

Lieutenant Ryan Collingway
Acting Chief Engineer
USS Arawyn

LtCmdr Sandra Boren
ELOA Engineering Officer
SB 369

 

RSS Feed